Newsletter July 2023

In a few days I, Miriam, will be allowed to travel to Switzerland with Mael, who will soon be two years old. On September 8, Carlos will join us and then we will prepare together for the birth of our second child. The due date is in the first half of October.

Continuing to build after there was no more hope

In our last newsletter we told how a few days after the continuation of the construction of the kindergarten, the political municipality imposed a construction stop. The manager of our construction company, which had also been responsible for the previous work, had not submitted the application for the building permit correctly. However, he did not care about the ban and continued building secretly at night. Once we found out, we stopped him. Of course, this time it would have been easier and gone faster if we had played the usual corruption game. We were aware of the consequences of not getting involved: Possibly years of waiting.

After about a month, at the end of May, Carlos unexpectedly met with the mayor. We had already tried to get such a meeting before unsuccessfully. When Carlos told him about our plans, the man was thrilled: a private kindergarten and a private school at prices all can afford! He immediately organized the necessary meetings.

Perpetrator work / domestic violence course

According to statistics, eight out of ten women in Peru experience domestic violence. These are alarming figures. For Daniela Hirt from Germany, a specialist in perpetrator work, and Stefan Martin from mannebüro züri, perpetrator work is the best way to protect victims. This is method is not well known by the responsible authorities in Peru. We became aware of this during Daniela’s last visit in April 2022. In cooperation with mannebüro züri, we had the opportunity to conduct a two week training course on domestic violence and perpetrator work. The offer met with great interest. Fifteen people (from EsEs as well as external specialists such as psycholo gists, school principals, etc.) took part in the face to face training and several more via video. On the weekend 30 participants came to the project house and took part in the two in person intensive days. Those who came from far away stayed in our very basic dormitories.

In Peru, social violence (violent acts to restrict social life, such as the prohibition or control of family and external contacts) is not recognized as a form of violence in itself. For ex-ample, many women do not classify their husband’s prohibition of meeting outside the home or the control combined with threats over their cell phone as violence. A major to pic here is micromachismo, violence through control, which begins very inconspicuously and often leads to femicide (killing of the woman by the (ex-) partner).

More difficult is the practical implementation of perpetrator work. Where can we conduct a course with men who commit violence and how do we contact them? Domestic violence is seen as a personal matter and what happens in the family is taboo. Even before the course, we were allowed to visit a political community in our area with Daniela. The mayor is very interested in the topic. He allowed some employees to participate in our training during working hours. He is also inclined to do a pilot project together with us: Individual sessions or group courses with violent offenders. On July 21, we were allowed to participate in the Violence Round Table. There different institutions (police, political municipality, etc.) discussed how to minimize violence. We are curious to see how the further work on domestic violence will develop and pray for productive cooperation.

Youth Weekend

At the beginning of July, we spent 2½ diverse and enriching days with 44 young people in a camp house just outside Lima. For the participants, these are very rare or for some the first experiences of getting out of often demanding family situations for a weekend. The diverse program (treasure hunt, campfire, swimming, games, preaching and worship times), the green surroundings and the precious fellowship were enjoyed by the young people very much.

During a biblical discussion, Fernando was in tears. He told afterwards: When his parents separated, his father moved to Guatemala and his mother to the USA. He stayed with his older sister. In the meantime, several years have passed. He was promised several times that he would be allowed to move to the U.S. or Guatemala. About two years ago we even organized a farewell party for him. However, nothing came of it. He said that he wanted to go through life with God, but he was afraid that God would leave him as well.

We can understand that very well. Our coworker Rodolfo is now establishing contact with Fernando and will personally work with him.

At the end of July there are more programs coming up: Three day children’s camp in the project house Estación Esperanza (EsEs) Pachacutec as well as a four day floorball (street hockey) training, which we may carry out in the schoolhouse Pestalozzi (Swiss school in tourist district in Lima).

We are very much looking forward to our time in Switzerland and welcoming our se-cond son.

Highlights

Dates Bad Ragaz and Stäfa

Wichtige Daten
27. August, 09:40 Uhr:
Maienfelderstr. 13, Bad Ragaz: EsEs-Gottesdienst mit Apéro

10. September, 14:30 Uhr:
Kirchbühlstr. 18, Stä-fa: GV des EsEs-Vereins (Gäste sind willkommen), direkt anschliessend öffentliches Jahrestreffen